By Michael McBride, Muncie Star Press (Indiana)
MUNCIE, Ind. - Brandishing a gun in a parking lot of Petro Stopping Center on a rainy Monday afternoon, Max F. Gray, 64, threatened to do harm to himself.
However, negotiators for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department, talked the Kissamee, Fla., resident out of it.
“He placed a semi-automatic handgun to his head,” said Sheriff George Sheridan Jr. “He was trying to force the situation, make it a suicide-by-police event.
“He was in a very dangerous spot, and we moved occupants under cover to the far east side of the restaurant.”
The windows of Gray’s car were tinted, and police could not see him when the windows were up. Sheridan said the man’s car was about 50 yards from the complex’s Iron Skillet Restaurant, 14000 W. Ind. 28, making anyone in the building an easy target. Police arrived about 1:15 p.m. Gray gave up shortly before 3 p.m., and was taken to Ball Memorial Hospital.
Sheridan was following up investigative leads to Florida on Monday night that the sheriff said might explain the former Muncie man’s actions. Gray told police he had originally planned to create a similar situation near Mount Pleasant.
“He said he wanted to force police to kill him,” Sheridan said late Monday.
Police said Gray had been at the truck stop on Sunday, where employees gave him a free meal after he told them he was hungry and had no money.
Back on Monday afternoon, Gray had tried to sell firearms to a man in the parking lot who then told Petro employees to call the police.
Two dozen officers, including county police, state police and an officer from Daleville shut down about a mile of Ind. 28 east of Interstate 69. The fueling plaza and the Iron Skillet Restaurant, which are owned by G&G Oil Co., were also closed during the standoff.
Police set up operations along Delaware County Road 825-W near where the balding man had parked his car in a lot on the west side of the businesses.
“Fortunately, this kind of thing doesn’t often happen,” said Tom Joyce, an official with G&G. “The center was shut down for a while for safety’s sake, but we were able to let people exit the building on the east side.”